AT FIRST glance, the prospect of Liverpool resting their captain and talisman for a game in the European champions’ backyard would have the visiting supporters reaching for the white handkerchiefs sensing surrender rather than revolting in disgust.

Yet, in context, there would be cold, hard logic to resting Steven Gerrard against Real Madrid should Brendan Rodgers go with his gut instinct. So often the romantic, the Liverpool manager has turned pragmatist.

Rodgers did not try and pretend his priorities lie with the Champions League rather than the Premier League here and the way the fixtures have fallen in a crucial week in his reign allows him to lay down that thinking for all to see.

Liverpool can ring the changes ahead of the visit of Chelsea on Saturday, when they can ill-afford to concede any further ground domestically, in the knowledge tonight brings a game they are not expected to win and one in which defeat need not be catastrophic.

The Bernabeu, with its steep stands which tower to the heavens, has become a playground for the football gods.

But Rodgers’ hopes of clambering out of Group B will not be derailed here even if Cristiano Ronaldo and co mesmerise just as they had at Anfield a fortnight ago, sprinkling their stardust to daze the visitors in the process.

Instead, Liverpool’s fight for second place is likely to be decided in the pivotal games against Ludogorets on November 26 and then home to FC Basel on December 9. There will be no margin for error then.

The concession Gerrard – who only featured for two minutes as a late substitute of the famous win in this arena in 2009 - may no longer be always able to play three intense games in a week bows to the inevitable but also demands others pick up the baton.

That the 34-year-old is unlikely to be the only one rested in the Spanish capital against a team Rodgers labelled as the “best in the world” at his pre-match press conference yesterday is where the gamble kicks-in however much the Liverpool manager argues he is not taking one.

I see we have spent an awful lot of money on players

Brendan Rodgers

A trouncing will do nothing for confidence further damaged by last Saturday’s anaemic reverse at St James’ Park.

Jordan Henderson will wear the captain’s armband, but it is those fringe players set to be given another chance to impress who have plenty to gain – and lose - against rivals currently on a shimmering, 12-game winning streak.

The cliché asking whether new signings “can do it on a wet Tuesday night at Burnley” is well versed, though that scenario may prove more appealing than being asked to perform on a wet Tuesday evening in Madrid when Ronaldo and James Rodriguez are champing at the bit.

“I see we have spent an awful lot of money on players to come in and now we have to give them an opportunity to perform,” said Rodgers somewhat curiously as if wanting to make a point about the club’s transfer dealings and the transfer committee of which he is part.

“If, at the end of this cycle of games, they haven’t performed, they can never say they haven’t been given a chance.

“For me, whether it is Real Madrid, Newcastle or Chelsea, I am putting my faith in these players to perform.

“That is not being pragmatic. It is why you have a squad to come and get results. Whatever happens, we will look to get a result on Saturday.”

However, it is a tall order. The likes of Lazar Markovic, Adam Lallana and Emre Can have yet to make the impact their summer billing suggested and convincing them this is an opportunity, not an ordeal, should they play will be key.

Liverpool’s biggest problem is in conjuring a blueprint to make the hosts so much as blink given how they have run aground creatively of late. Daniel Sturridge’s presence in the travelling party is not because he is finally fit, but simply because Rodgers wants all of his first team squad present.

Ronaldo has plundered 22 goals this season – three more than the entire Liverpool team - and if the balance is not right then it could be akin to taking a knife into a gunfight to pinch the line former Everton manager David Moyes once said ahead of a trip to the Etihad.

Brendan Rodgers has given the captaincy to Jordan Henderson, resting Steven Gerrard [GETTY]

Liverpool must, at the very least, be competitive against Real’s artists and having conceded just six fouls in the chastening 3-0 defeat on Merseyside there is an expectation they will be more obdurate opponents.

“You have to have the belief and courage for the big games like this. We have to disrupt their game as well,” said Rodgers.

“We can’t only show our football qualities, we have to be ready to fight and do our best.

“When you ask your players to give their best, and they give their best, then win, lose or draw I am always proud of the team.

“These are games that provide a great opportunity. You go into a game like this here and you get a positive performance and result, then it can kick you on and move you into the weekend’s game with a great deal of confidence.”